Depleted Alaskan whales holding steady, study finds

By The Associated Press

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ANCHORAGE — The beluga population in Cook Inlet is depleted but appears to be steady, according to scientists.

A detailed, frame-by-frame analysis of video footage taken by observers in an airplane during counts last June produced an abundance estimate of 357 whales, almost identical to estimates in 1998, 1999 and 2001.

It appears the belugas are reproducing just fast enough to keep numbers from falling dramatically.

Over the past six months, biologists studied videotape for any whales missed and calculated how many animals were underwater when counters zoomed past at 110 mph. Applying a complicated formula, they derived an estimate of the population.

The number of belugas living in upper Cook Inlet actually could be anywhere from 289 to 440, about the same range federal biologists have found during the past six summers, according to figures released by the National Marine Mammal Laboratory in Seattle.

"Basically, what we're seeing is no significant change," said Rod Hobbs, who oversees the population survey for the lab. "With the variability that we have in our estimates, they could be declining or they could be increasing, and we don't have the data to confirm it."

Once thought to number more than 1,300, Cook Inlet's belugas dropped to an estimated 347 by 1998. Federal biologists blamed the decline on overhunting by Alaska Natives.

Whale biologist Sue Moore, director of the laboratory, said it might take five to seven years before the survey shows a population climb.

"That's just normal for these marine mammals. We're not dealing with fruit flies," she said. "They're long-lived, slow-reproducing animals."

The whales were listed as "depleted" under the Marine Mammal Protection Act; hunting has been restricted to one or two whales a season in the past three years.

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